French Journalist Dies by Russian Rocket Fire in Ukraine

The French news agency, AFP’s Ukraine video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed on Tuesday by a rocket fired by Russia. He died near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) on the outskirts of the town close to Bakhmut.

The AFP team came under fire from Russian rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers. The 32-year-old French video journalist died on the spot when a rocket hit him. The rest of the team escaped unhurt.

Ukraine’s defence ministry offered its “heartfelt condolences” to Soldin’s family and coworkers in a statement on Twitter, saying he was killed in a Russian missile attack on Chasiv Yar in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Soldin began working for AFP as an intern in its Rome bureau in 2015 and was later hired in London. He was in the first AFP team to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022. Soldin was living in Ukraine since September 2022. He was providing video coverage by traveling regularly to the front lines in the east and south.